FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION - PAGE 4

One in six Americans report being responsible for a pregnancy that ended in abortion, according to University of Chicago researchers who on Wednesday released more data from the National Health and Social Life Survey, regarded by experts as the nation's most comprehensive scientific study of American sexual behavior and attitudes. The study covers a broad spectrum of sexual issues, from the consequences of the sexual revolution to the effects of circumcision. It shows the lasting impact on children who have sexual relations with adults--some children tend to grow up to be more sexually active, at greater risk for sexually transmitted diseases, and prone to sexual dysfunction.

Q. I am embarrassed to write to you about my problem, but I'm more embarrassed to talk with my doctor and my friends. They think I am too old to have sex on my mind. I'm 63, divorced and have not had sex for many years. Recently, with all of the ads about sex drugs on TV, I have begun to remember all that I'm missing. Your advice would be greatly appreciated. --L.E., Oxford, N.J. A. I'm sorry to hear that you are embarrassed to talk about a subject that can be so important to a person's well-being.

By Garret Condon. Special to the Tribune. Garret Condon is a reporter for the Hartford Courant, a Tribune newspaper | December 2, 2001

Chalk up one more life threatened by terrorism: sex life. Widespread depression and anxiety are robbing many couples of the pleasure and comfort of sex, according to a Yale University physician and researcher, and sexual problems point to the wide psychological impact of national and world events since Sept. 11. "I think it's showing up in loss of libido and problems with sexual response," said Dr. Philip Sarrel, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine and director of the Sex Counseling Program at Yale.

A new study of almost 30,000 people worldwide concludes that women as old as 80 can continue to have a satisfying sex life--and, if they don't, it's probably not because of their age. Though it was paid for by the maker of Viagra, the study is not good news for Pfizer Inc. and others hoping to develop blockbuster drugs to treat the sexual complaints of the female half of the population. It turns out that aging women don't necessarily need a little blue pill. Unlike men, whose problems increase dramatically as they get older, women are unlikely to have age-related sexual complaints, according to the study by University of Chicago sociology professor Edward Laumann.

Treatment for certain cancers can affect your sex life, causing a range of symptoms that can make sex with your partner more difficult - or nonexistent. But that doesn't mean you can't have a healthy sex life, says Jeffrey Albaugh, a urology clinical nurse specialist who runs the new Ross Clinic for Sexual Health at NorthShore Glenbrook Hospital, which treats both male and female sexual dysfunction. Albaugh, who has been addressing sexual health for more than 25 years, has just published a book, "Reclaiming Sex & Intimacy After Prostate Cancer: A Guide for Men and Their Partners.

The people who brought you Viagra are back. Having created a veritable revolution in the treatment of male sexual dysfunction--enriching Pfizer Inc. stockholders and enhancing medical careers in the process--they are now training their sights on the other half of the population. It certainly has taken long enough. For nearly two decades, researchers, medical organizations and drug companies worked feverishly on the problem of erectile dysfunction in men, culminating last year in FDA approval of the miraculous diamond-shaped blue pill.

`I think it gives us a base for explaining why we had this enormous response to Viagra.' -- University of Chicago sociologist Edward Laumann, lead author of a study that found more than 40 percent of women and 30 percent of men regularly have no interest in sex, can't have an orgasm or suffer from some other sexual dysfunction. ROSS PEROT, IN CHICAGO ON TUESDAY, REFUSING TO COMMENT ON THE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL OF PRESIDENT CLINTON: `Let's just stick to business. Let's just stick to positive, constructive things.

It's 2 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon and Sonja Stein is sitting in a Chicago health clinic, swathed in a plush terrycloth bathrobe and slippers, viewing an erotic film through wrap-around video glasses. This is no ordinary doctor's office. Stein, a 33-year-old mother of three, has come from Orem, Utah, to be treated at the recently opened Berman Center, a comprehensive women's sexual health facility on Ontario Street. "I want to want to have sex," Stein said in a phone interview a week before heading here to see Laura Berman, a sex therapist who relocated from California to direct the center.

Q. I am a 54-year-old male in good health, but I smoke. I quit several years ago for three years, but with pressures at work, I started up again. When I hit 50, things began to change. My blood pressure went up, and I had to be put on medication. At the same time, I had trouble sleeping and urinating. My urologist put me on Cardura. Now I urinate OK, but the Cardura didn't do anything for the problem of urinating many times each night. My doctor told me to lay off caffeine and not drink after 6 p.m., but that doesn't help.

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first pill for impotence, a major breakthrough in treating a sexual dysfunction that affects millions of American men. The much-anticipated pill will be available only by prescription and is expected to be shipped nationwide in the next few weeks. Patients would take the pill, known as Viagra, about one hour before having sexual relations. The medication's effect lasts up to four hours. In clinical studies, Viagra's success rate was about 70 percent, said FDA officials and representatives of Pfizer Inc., which developed the drug.